


256 Allan Hall

by Lukesnotpunk



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, M/M, and so are victor and georgi, except mari and yurio, georgi sexiles victor a lot so he hangs out with phichit and yuuri, phichit and yuuri are roommates, phichit is doing his best to get the College Experience, they're all college freshman, victor is just being victor, yuuri's anxiety will come in here and there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-10-30 10:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10874691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukesnotpunk/pseuds/Lukesnotpunk
Summary: “So how did Georgi meet this girl?” Yuuri found himself asking. Victor immediately groaned, and Yuuri felt bad for asking.“They literally met on move in day, and she lives on the first floor! They’re acting like they’re so in love that they have to spend every moment together, and it has to be in our room because her roommate is ‘evil’ but come on, man. Calm down,” Victor complained, wildly gesturing with his hands to show his annoyance. Yuuri laughed at the way that Victor was completely over exaggerating his movements, and Victor smiled at him. Yuuri had to push thoughts of how beautiful Victor was from his mind again, though it seemed at this point to be a losing battle.Or, Phichit and Yuuri live down the hall from Victor and Georgi, and Georgi keeps kicking out Victor to "hang out" with his new girlfriend. And maybe Yuuri thinks Victor is pretty cute, but he isn't going to tell him or anything, no, that would make things weird. Right?





	1. Chapter 1

The first day of college, Yuuri Katsuki cried as soon as his parents left. Luckily, his new roommate, Phichit, was off at lunch with his own parents, though he acted as though he was reluctant to accept their invitation. Yuuri quietly laughed at the other boy, who he’d talked to every day the entire summer, exchanging weird snapchats and excited news about purchases for the room. When Phichit came back, a little less bubbly than before, Yuuri acted like he was just lying in bed on his phone because he didn’t want to advertise the fact he’d just been crying over being left alone,  _ really _ alone, for the first time. He was eighteen years old after all; he was legally an adult, and there was no good reason for him to be so upset about his parents dropping him off at college. He was  _ mature _ and  _ responsible  _ and he  _ knew _ it was dumb to be crying. If Phichit noticed, he didn’t say anything about it.

Phichit insisted that they leave their door open for the next few days if he was in the room, just to make sure that they had the chance to meet everyone in their hall.

“Yuuri! We need to make friends! It’ll be good for us! Maybe there’ll be some cute girls or something,” Phichit said with a wink, and Yuuri forced the anxiety in the pit of his stomach to stay far from his mind; he fought to further pushed it down. Phichit was already a social butterfly, and he knew half of the hall by the time their first day of classes started four days later. He introduced Yuuri to people, and Yuuri would shyly introduce himself, attempting to join in on the small talk about parties or classes or how great it was to finally not have your parents breathing down your neck.

Phichit had some sense of the fact that Yuuri was uncomfortable with all of the people he would introduce him to, so he made sure that he didn’t bring anyone over without asking first, and Yuuri was grateful that Phichit was conscious of the fact he was living with someone different from him. Yuuri just hoped that he wouldn’t irritate his roommate so much that the extroverted boy would move out. Living with a random stranger part way through the semester didn’t sound like something he wanted to deal with.

One day, about two weeks after move in, Yuuri could hear Phichit talking to someone in the hall, and he walked over to the door and opened it slowly to see a boy sitting cross legged on the ground a few feet to the right of a room down the hall. The unknown boy was smiling and laughing at something with Phichit, and Yuuri’s thoughts turned to how pretty the boy was before he could stop himself. He pushed the notion away as he opened his door more, adjusting his glasses back to the correct position on his nose as it was about a thousand degrees in their non-air conditioned dorms and his sweat was making them continuously shift down his nose as per usual.

“Yuuri! This is Victor, he lives with Georgi. Remember how I told you I always see him sitting out here?” Yuuri nodded and smiled at Victor nervously.

“Nice to meet you, Victor,” Yuuri said, trying to keep his nervousness out of his voice.

“Phichit has told me a bit about you! It’s nice to meet you too.”

“So, Yuuri, I guess Georgi has a girlfriend and keeps kicking Victor out, and I was thinking maybe he could come hang out in our room for a bit? So he doesn’t have to sit on the floor out here because who knows what’s happened on these carpets.” Phichit gave Yuuri a hopeful look, and Yuuri nodded quickly. Victor looked like he hadn’t thought of how gross the floor was and quickly stood up, a slight curl of his upper lip the only show of his disgust.

“Yeah, that sounds good. That must suck. Is it a girlfriend from home or something?” Yuuri asked as the three of them entered Phichit and Yuuri’s room.

“No, he literally met her a week and a half ago at some orientation thing. But they’re in the  _ throws of passion _ so I’m not a roommate so much as a constant inconvenience.” Victor didn’t stop his utter disdain from dripping into his slightly too loud voice, and Yuuri anxiously glanced back at the door across the hall. Phichit just laughed at Victor’s words and swung open their door all the way open.

“Welcome to our room! This is my side, you can sit wherever you want as long as you don’t put your shoes on my bed,” Phichit said with a grand sweep of his arm. Yuuri rolled his eyes as he shuffled over to his side of the room, jumping onto his slightly too tall dorm bed. He winced slightly at the loud noise it made before he crossed his legs and looked down at his phone, not knowing what to do as Victor kicked off his shoes and sat on Phichit’s bed next to Phichit.

The conversation flowed as Phichit quizzed Victor on his major (Literature), where he was from (Russia as a kid, but after that a town about five hours away that Yuuri had never heard of), and how he liked school so far (it wasn’t bad).

“So how did Georgi meet this girl?” Yuuri found himself asking. Victor immediately groaned, and Yuuri felt bad for asking.

“They literally met on move in day, and she lives on the first floor! They’re acting like they’re  _ so _ in love that they have to spend every moment together, and it  _ has _ to be in our room because her roommate is ‘evil’ but come on, man. Calm down,” Victor complained, wildly gesturing with his hands to show his annoyance. Yuuri laughed at the way that Victor was completely over exaggerating his movements, and Victor smiled at him. Yuuri had to push thoughts of how beautiful Victor was from his mind again, though it seemed at this point to be a losing battle.

“That’s ridiculous. How long do you think they’ll stay together?” Phichit asked. Victor’s eyes lingered on Yuuri for another moment before he looked at Phichit as he responded.

“According to Georgi, forever. Realistically? Maybe a month.” Yuuri laughed again, and Victor smiled in a way that made Yuuri’s stomach flutter.

“Want to watch a movie or something?” Phichit asked, already reaching for the remote to his TV. Victor and Yuuri nodded, and they all fell into comfortable silence as Phichit put on what he claimed was “the absolute best movie in existence.” Yuuri had already seen it twice since move in, and he didn’t have the heart to tell Phichit he was already getting sick of it, so he just scrolled on his phone while it played in the background.

After the movie ended, Victor texted Georgi and found out that his room was finally clear again, and he thanked Yuuri and Phichit for letting him hang out before returning to his own room across the hall.

It became a usual occurrence over the next few weeks for Phichit to invite Victor over any time he saw him in the hall, and eventually Victor started knocking and coming in to hang out with them, even sometimes when Georgi wasn’t kicking him out.

“Yuuri, you’ve got to see this video of my dog my mom just sent me. Her name is Makkachin and I love her so much, look at her,” Victor said as Yuuri opened the door one afternoon. Yuuri laughed as Victor’s pushed his phone towards Yuuri, and Yuuri smiled when he saw the video of a brown poodle jumping around after bubbles a ten year old boy was blowing from a giant wand.

“That’s so cute. Is that your little brother?” Yuuri asked, handing Victor’s phone back.

“No, it’s my next door neighbor. He might as well be, though. He got into this habit in the last few years of just kind of showing up at my house, even though he claims to hate me, my house, and my dog. He’s actually also named Yuri.” Yuuri had moved to the side as Victor spoke, and Victor naturally walked into the room, kicking off his flip flops before settling onto the end of Yuuri’s bed. Yuuri nervously climbed back to where he’d been sitting next to his pillow, making sure there was still a comfortable distance between the two of them.

“Huh, what a coincidence. He seems to be have a good time with your dog there. What’s her name again?”

“Makkachin! She’s a spoiled little pup, but I love her to death.”

“She looks just like my dog, Vicchan. Except Makkachin is bigger; Vicchan is a toy poodle. Wait, I think I have a cute video my sister sent me yesterday.”

They spent the next hour showing each other pictures and videos of their dogs and generally just discussing why poodles of any size are the best breed and how they aren’t given enough credit for how adorable they are. Throughout the conversation, they steadily got closer until they were lying side by side on Yuuri’s bed, their phones held above them as they laughed at the dumb things their dogs did. Phichit got back from class, interrupting their conversation to talk about a party he’d been invited to by a classmate. Yuuri immediately bolted up in bed, feeling guilty like he’d done something wrong even though their actions were completely innocent. If Phichit noticed anything, he ignored it when he launched into his campaign to convince the two of them to come out that Friday.

“This is our second weekend at college; we’ve got to be stereotypical college kids! We’ve got to go be stupid and reckless and get really drunk!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands up for emphasis.

“I don’t know, Phichit, I feel like parties aren’t really the place for me,” Yuuri said, anxiously rearranging himself as far against the wall, away from Victor, as he could. Victor on the other hand propped himself up on one elbow, a light in his eyes at the mention of a party.

“Where is it?” he asked, his crystal blue eyes already glinting with excitement.

“At some frat I think. It’s not too far off of campus. Come on Yuuri it’ll be fun! You can just hang out with us the entire time, and if you don’t like it we can leave, please please  _ please,  _ Yuuri!” Phichit dropped his backpack to the ground, clasping his hands to plead with Yuuri.

“I don’t know…” Yuuri did want to go in some sense, but he knew his anxiety and inability to control himself when drunk would only make him have a bad night.

“Don’t make me get on my knees, Yuuri. I’ll do it; don’t test me.” Before Yuuri could protest, Phichit was on the ground, groveling. Yuuri couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of him at the sight, and when Victor rolled off the bed and joined him, he started laughing even harder.

“Fine! Okay! I’ll go! You can get off the floor you ridiculous people.” Phichit grinned widely as he sprang off the ground and hugged Yuuri.

“Success! This is going to be great, I promise. It’s tomorrow night, so we have  _ just _ enough time to figure out what to wear.” Yuuri laughed again at the far off look in Phichit’s eyes, and Victor sat back on the floor, leaning on his hands and stretching out his long legs. Phichit began flitting around the room excitedly mumbling about what they would wear and do and who they’d see, and Yuuri took out his phone to scroll through instagram.

The next day, classes flew by too quickly for Yuuri’s liking. Although he wanted them to be over, he didn’t want the night to creep up on him before he had enough time to mentally prepare for going out. He took his time walking across campus from his boring Freshman English class. The sky was a soft blue, covered by a few small, harmless clouds flitting across the sky. There was a heavy breeze that made the tips of Yuuri’s long bangs blow across his face and the bottom of his oversized shirt blow to the side. He quickly pushed it down, making sure that none of his stomach was exposed in the open air.

Arriving back to the dorm, Victor’s room had a sock on the door knob, so Yuuri knew he would be in 256 alongside Phichit, who ended class an hour earlier than Yuuri. Therefore he wasn’t surprised when he opened his door he was prepared to see Victor lounging, overly comfortable as he was always was. However, he wasn’t fully prepared to see Victor shirtless, laid back on Yuuri’s bed with his arm dramatically thrown across his eyes, lamenting over his lack of a good shirt to wear to the party.

“I didn’t even get a chance to grab something good before Georgi and Anya kicked me out! Seriously, why can’t they  _ ever _ go to her room! Should I stop being nice? Am I too nice?” he noticed Yuuri and half sat up to address him, “Yuuri, am I too nice? Should I be meaner?” Yuuri can’t form a real response, and after a beat of silence he realizes it isn’t a rhetorical question and attempts to get something out.

“You’re, you’re very nice, Victor. Not too nice. You’re fine. Just pick a shirt.” Victor pouted and got up off of Yuuri’s bed, and Yuuri tried to calm his fast-beating heart. He dropped his bag down on the floor next to his bed and slipped off his shoes before settling in the uncomfortable wooden chair in front of his desk and opening up his laptop.

“Yuuri, what are you going to wear tonight?” Phichit asked, completely missing Yuuri’s discomfort.

“Phichit, the party isn’t for another four hours. I’ll pick something later, it doesn’t really matter.”

“Doesn’t really matter? Yuuri Katsuki, you wound me.” Yuuri rolled his eyes and opened up facebook, scrolling through his feed before checking his notifications and seeing a video his sister posted of Vicchan barking at their front door and running back and forth, with the caption “He keeps getting angry because @Yuuri Katsuki isn’t coming home. Miss you little brother!” He smiled tightly, biting his lip to try to fight off the overwhelming feeling of homesickness welling up in his chest. He watches the video on loop for a few minutes before he realizes that Phichit and Victor were trying to get his attention. Victor was now standing behind Yuuri, thankfully wearing a shirt, and he smiled sadly down at Yuuri.

“That’s Vicchan, right?” Victor asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah, he always waited by the door when I left for school and would be there as soon as I got home. He must be confused about me not coming back.” Yuuri was increasingly quieter as he spoke, still watching the video of his dog.

“Why don’t we go get food? When we get back we can finish all of this,” Phichit interjected, breaking the sad tension that was collecting like dark clouds on a previously sunny day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I've been talking about writing this fic for months, and I have a good bit written, but I decided to just make it multi-chaptered as motivation to keep writing lol. Any feedback would be great! I'll try to edit and post another chapter by Friday, and then I'll probably switch to weekly updates.
> 
> If you want to talk to me abt the fic or anything else, check out my blog [here](http://www.victuuricorner.tumblr.com)!
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri, Phichit, and Victor go to their first college party. It's... interesting.

They trudged to the awful dining hall on campus to eat enough subpar food to feel just full enough, and Phichit and Victor did a good job of distracting Yuuri and making him forget the video his sister had tagged him in. When they got back to the room Phichit decided that they needed to watch a movie for “research” on how the party is going to go, and he immediately put on  _ Animal House _ . Yuuri was already laughing before the movie even started because Victor had never seen the movie and was sitting, watching the ridiculous movie with rapt attention on Yuuri’s bed. Yuuri sat at his desk during the film, half scrolling through social media on his laptop and half watching Victor’s reactions to the movie, which Phichit is continuously snapchatting.

Once the movie ends, Phichit forces his way into Yuuri’s closet and picks out black skinny jeans and a tight black shirt that Yuuri would usually wear under a something that buttoned over it.

“Phichit, I can’t wear this. I have to put something over it,” he argued, although he knew it was completely useless by this point. Phichit didn’t give in easily.

“Just put it on before you decide not to wear it!” The pleading look that had gotten Yuuri into this whole mess the day before was back on Phichit’s face, and Yuuri sighed. He knew he’d lost.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go change,” he muttered, grabbing the clothes and going to the bathroom down the hall from his room. Victor shot Phichit a look when Yuuri went to leave, but Yuuri pretended not to see it. He knew by now that most people his age were fine with changing clothes in front of their friends, but he wasn’t like most people his age; he was worse. He didn’t want his friends to see his physical shortcomings, the soft edges and small gut and curviness of his figure. If they saw those, they might realize he had other shortcomings too, and he wasn’t worth a moment of their time. So he changed quickly, and when he stepped out of the stall he paused to look in the mirror.

He really didn’t look awful the way he expected to. The skinny jeans went up high enough to cover the way his stomach stuck out, and the shirt was just loose enough not to show off the way his body was going soft from eating too much disgusting dining hall food. He sighed and walked back to the room, knowing he’d have to admit Phichit was right and see the smug look on his face. Yuuri was coming to hate that look. When Yuuri entered the room, both Phichit and Victor immediately stopped whatever they’d been saying to look at him. Victor’s eyes scanned down his body, and Yuuri shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably.

“Does it look that bad? I told you, Phichit, this is dumb, I should just—”

“Yuuri, you look amazing! I’m a genius. A complete and utter genius. Just amazing. Victor, what do you think?” Yuuri’s gaze drifted from Phichit to Victor, only to find Victor’s eyes already locked onto his.

“It looks great, Yuuri. Which is why I definitely need something better than this shirt. I’ll look even worse in comparison if Yuuri is with us.”

“I’m pretty sure me being there will only make you look better, Victor,” Yuuri scoffed. Phichit threw a pillow at him, and Yuuri feigned hurt at the action.

“You both look great, now stop being dumb and start drinking! Pregame starts now.” Phichit gestured to his desk where three shot glasses were sitting, filled with a clear liquid that smelled like cleaning supplies. Yuuri had only gotten drunk four times when he was in high school, and all four times it was just him and a few friends, and they didn’t go out to any parties or anything. What could it hurt to have this one experience? Yuuri read all the time, and in stories where characters went to parties he could never tell if people were describing things correctly since he had no experience.

With that thought in mind, he raised the shot glass and joined in the toast “To Allan 256!” and downed the shot cleanly. Phichit coughed a little bit, reaching for his water immediately, while Victor just wrinkled his nose slightly. Yuuri tried to act casual as he walked back to his desk for his own water bottle, but he just wanted the awful taste of the vodka out of his mouth.

“What kind of vodka is this? It tastes like lemon floor cleaner,” Victor remarked, smiling warmly at Phichit. Phichit let out a full hearted laugh before grabbing the bottle from under his bed, something cheap with a picture of a lemon on the label.

“That definitely was not ‘lemon fresh.’ False advertising,” Yuuri teased, making Phichit pout at him.

“Not like you can expect vodka to taste good ever,” Phichit grumbled. He set the bottle on the desk and glanced at his watch before pouring them another round of shots.

“Phichit, we literally  _ just _ did a shot.”

“Yeah, but if we wanna have a good time at this party, we’ve got to do at least two more before we leave. Frats water down their beer, so this is a good idea, Yuuri. Drink up! To college!” Yuuri and Victor repeated the toast back before downing the shot. Yuuri could feel it hit his stomach this time, flooding it with tingling warmth before the feeling disappeared, and the alcohol went off to make its way into his bloodstream. Phichit put on some upbeat top 40s music, and they sat and talked for another half an hour before doing another shot, toasting to bad decisions and leaving the dorm.

On the way to the party, Yuuri was walking in between Victor and Phichit, and he could feel the effects of the alcohol really starting in already. He felt lucky to have such great friends, but he didn’t quite feel drunk enough yet to tell them how grateful he was for them accepting him given how antisocial and boring he was.

The party was a lot like Yuuri expected. When they arrived, no one was out front, but the pulsing lights visible in the windows and the noise coming from the backyard clued them in that they were in the right place. They all fished the five dollar cover charge out of their wallets before being handed bright red plastic cups and told the keg was in the living room. They wandered into the house, trying to find the keg since they were given no indication of which way the living room was. By the time they found it, Phichit had already run into three people he knew, and Yuuri felt like he was annoying both him and Victor by not being good small talk like them. He quickly filled up his cup and finished it in the next five minutes after being roped into another conversation. After he disappeared for a second to refill it, he received a worried look from Victor. He put on his most convincing smile, and Victor didn’t make any actual comments, instead taking a sip of his own half empty cup. An hour or so later, Yuuri was sufficiently drunk from the shots and four cups of beer, and he felt okay about talking to all of the people Phichit was introducing him to.

“Yuuri is the best roommate ever! He’s so awesome and cool!” Phichit said, slinging his arm around Yuuri’s shoulder. Yuuri let out a small laugh at that, putting his arm around Phichit in return.

“Yuuri, you look really familiar. Are you in my comp class? With Miller?” A girl that he’d definitely already been introduced to said. He vaguely recognized her, but he couldn’t pull her name from anywhere in his mind, so he just nodded. Phichit dropped his arm, shooting Yuuri a look before taking a small step away and saying something about getting another drink and pulling Victor with him.

“Oh yeah! He’s definitely… he’s something alright.” The girl laughed a little too hard at his joke, and he let a small smile work its way over his lips. Maybe he was better at this whole small talk thing that he thought.

“Today in class when he was telling us that story about when he almost pushed a random guy off of a cliff like? Who does that in the first place? And who does that then tells his students about it?” Yuuri found himself laughing along with her, and the conversation drifted away to other things. Yuuri felt the warmth from alcohol running through him, and the girl slowly drifted closer. When she laughed and touched his arm, Yuuri finally realized that she was flirting with him and felt a surge of panic run through him. He drank the last sip of his beer and bit his lip, glancing around to see where Victor and Phichit were. He didn’t spot them immediately, and his palms began to prickle with sweat. His stomach felt unsettled, but he knew it had nothing to do with the alcohol.

“I’m going to grab another drink and find Phichit, it was really nice talking to you,” Yuuri mumbled at the next lull in conversation, quickly turning and walking away. He refilled his cup and drank half of it before turning around to try to find Phichit and Victor. He finally spotted them through the window, out in the backyard standing with a small group of other people. Yuuri made his way back out there, still feeling panic that couldn’t be stopped despite the alcohol in his veins.

“Yuuri! I thought things were going well with Sara? You two looked like you were having a good time, what happened?” Phichit asked, stepping out of the group to address Yuuri.

“I want to go, can we go? I don’t want to be here anymore,” Yuuri mumbled. Victor heard him and turned to join the conversation with just the three of them.

“Are you okay, Yuuri? Did something happen?”

“I just… Can we go? I’ll talk about it in the dorm, I just don’t want to be here, there are too many people and I, I don’t know.” Victor looked concerned, and he took a step closer to Yuuri.

“Phichit, you can stay if you want to, I can go back, too.”

“Oh, yeah, is that okay? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I just…  We can go?” Victor nodded in response to Yuuri, and they quickly said goodbye to Phichit before departing. They walked in silence aside from Victor’s random comments about how pretty certain spots they passed looked at night, and how bright the stars were tonight. When they got back to their building, they pretended to be more sober than they were until they got to the stairs, away from the prying eyes of the RA sitting in the lounge of the building. Once they were inside 256, Yuuri kicked off his shoes and curled into himself on his bed, his head in his hands

“Yuuri, did something happen? Did that girl say something because I’ll go back and—”

“I’m gay.” Victor stopped pacing in front of Yuuri and stopped, staring at him with his mouth slightly open.

“Oh.” Yuuri’s anxiety only increased at the response. Victor wasn’t the  _ first _ person he’d told, but he was the first person not related to him.

“I, I was going to say something earlier, but I wasn’t really out at home and it’s hard to, like, tell people, and there wasn’t exactly a good time, and I thought I could just deal with it quietly and not tell anyone or anything, but like, I couldn’t even  _ tell _ that girl was flirting with me, but then she touched my arm and I realized it and… I don’t know, it’s dumb, and I totally overreacted, but that’s what I  _ do _ and I’m sorry I’m the worst fucking friend, and I didn’t tell you and you probably think I’m a creep or something, and I’m sorry—” Yuuri was cut off when Victor hugged him, and he was too stunned to continue his anxious, drunken rambling. Yuuri loosened up a little, wrapping one arm around Victor when the other boy held Yuuri tighter to him.

“Yuuri, I don’t think you’re a creep, not at all. Did you really think we wouldn’t be okay with it?” Victor pulled away, and Yuuri chanced a look up at his face. Victor looked supportive, if a little hurt that Yuuri was scared to tell him.

“I don’t know, I just was scared what would happen if you didn’t. You guys are, like, becoming my best friends, and I don’t want anything to screw that up,” Yuuri said, looking back down at his lap.

“Oh, Yuuri,” Victor’s voice was tender, but Yuuri still couldn’t bring himself to look up, “You shouldn’t have been worried at all. I’m not even straight, how could I be mad at you for it?” Yuuri’s breath caught in his throat and his head snapped up to look at Victor again.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Now come on, you should drink some water.” Victor handed him the water bottle sitting on his desk, and Yuuri took a few sips, stealing glances at Victor as he did.

“Sorry I made you leave the party, I was being dumb,” he mumbled. Yuuri focused intently on the water bottle, staring at the cheap, green, see-through plastic as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“No, Yuuri, I’m sorry that you were uncomfortable. If we go out to more parties, you can always do this. I wasn’t having that good of a time anyways, it wasn’t all that fun. Hopefully we can find something more fun the next time we go out.” Yuuri nodded along to Victor’s words, still in disbelief that he had come out to Victor, and Victor had not only been okay with it, but revealed that he was also not straight.

“My sister is gonna laugh at me so hard when I tell her about this.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because I went out to my first party and it ended up like… this. She’ll think it’s hilarious.” Yuuri hadn’t noticed Victor was near him until the bed dipped down, and then Victor was sitting next to Yuuri and Yuuri was trying desperately not to be weird. Just because his new best friend who was incredibly hot and not straight was sitting next to him that doesn’t mean he should be reading into it.

“It is kind of funny now. I was worried at the party though. How did it take you so long to realize that she was flirting with you?” Victor had kicked off his shoes at some point and now he was readjusting on the bed to press his back against the wall. Yuuri copied him, moving back and making sure that he left a good few inches of space between them.

“I don’t know, people don’t really flirt with me often. Or ever.”

“That’s weird. So you’ve never had a boyfriend then?”

“Well, I, uh—no, not really.”

“That’s okay. I had my first boyfriend when I was fifteen, but I had already had a few girlfriends by that—”

“That’s cool, I just, can we talk about something else?” Yuuri knew he was probably being rude, but he couldn’t find himself to really care with the way that the alcohol was slowly making its way out of his system, his blood becoming thicker and more his own with every passing moment.

Victor shifted the conversation away to some weird interaction at the party with two drunk girls fawning over his hair and asking if they could braid it, and Yuuri found himself laughing at Victor’s over dramatic retelling of it. An hour later, Phichit came back to the room, sufficiently more drunk than he had been when Yuuri and Victor left the party.

“Yuuri! And Victor! You guys are here! That’s so cool, you guys are the best, you know that? Totally the best,” Phichit said, a bit of a slur on a few of the words, but otherwise coherent enough.

“Phichit, why don’t you get to bed? I should probably head back to my room anyways.”

“You know what, Victor? You’re so right. You’re  _ always _ right, dude, you’re so smart. How do you do that? Can you teach me how to be smart, too?” Yuuri held in his laughter and Phichit staggered towards Victor. Victor stood up, and Phichit immediately slung his arm around him.

“Yeah, first things first for being smart: brush your teeth.”

“Of course. Victor, you’re so  _ smart _ wow.” Victor helped Phichit grab his toothbrush and shot Yuuri a look, and Yuuri immediately broke out into laughter.

“Yuuri, what’s funny? Am I that drunk? Oh  _ god _ I’m being a dumb drunk, aren’t I? Damn it all.” Victor shushed Phichit as he pulled him into the hall and towards the bathroom. Yuuri figured that Victor was right and grabbed his own toothbrush and made sure he had his ID to unlock the door to the room before he slipped into the hall after them.

In the bathroom, Victor was attempting to get Phichit to brush his teeth, but Phichit was trying too hard to talk. Victor was just barely keeping a smile off of his face, and he shot a small one at Yuuri when he walked in. Yuuri’s heart immediately beat faster at the smile, as though it could beat out of his chest and be closer to Victor in the process.

“Yuuri! You’re the best roommate ever, you know that?” Victor sighed as Phichit once again pulled his toothbrush out of his mouth to talk, and Yuuri stifled another laugh.

“You’re pretty great too, Phichit. Come on, let’s brush our teeth. It’ll be like roommate bonding.” Victor could no longer hold in his laughter and his shoulders shook with laughter he tried to keep from becoming too loud. No one wanted an RA to walk in right now. They fell into silence for a minute while Yuuri and Phichit finished brushing their teeth and Victor scrolled on his phone. Once they finished Yuuri and Victor led Phichit back to the room, and he was talking on and on about how much he loved them. Yuuri and Victor kept exchanging small smiles, and Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a little chill up his spine every time Victor saved a look just for him. He was undoubtedly more sober than Phichit, but he told himself the reason he was feeling this was because of the alcohol running through his system. He knew there was more to it, but he pushed it aside and helped Phichit get ready for bed. After they finally got him into pajamas, Victor announced he should probably head back to his room.

“You can handle getting him to actually go to sleep, right?” Victor murmured with his back to Phichit. The drunk boy probably wouldn’t have heard the words anyways, but Yuuri could tell Victor didn’t want to offend him.

“Yeah, I’ve got it from here. And thanks again for earlier… I’m sorry I freaked out at the party.” Yuuri offered Victor a small guilty smile, and Victor pulled him into his arms in response.

“Don’t apologize for being uncomfortable ever, okay? It’s not your fault, and we didn’t really help you at all either,” Victor paused and pulled away. “I’m glad you trusted me earlier, I know it’s not easy. I know Phichit will take it well, too. I’m here if you ever need to talk.” Yuuri really didn’t want to cry, so he just hugged Victor again before they said goodnight. After he closed the door he changed into pajamas, vaguely responding to Phichit’s rambling compliments. Before Yuuri could even climb into bed, Phichit’s rambling turned from semi-coherent to indecipherable mumbling and then to complete silence. Yuuri turned to look at him and saw his roommate passed out, sprawled half under his covers with an arm hanging off the bed. He stifled a laugh and took a picture before gently moving Phichit’s arm onto the bed and fixing his blankets. Yuuri’s eyes felt heavy and sore as he fell into bed, shoving his glasses onto his bedside table. His thoughts were swirling, but for once he was so tired he could still fall asleep quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing drunk Phichit was so much fun I'm still laughing after editing the chapter lmao
> 
> I'm basing a lot of Yuuri's background with being in the closet on my own experiences with coming out of the closet in college, so I hope that it comes across as realistic! That anxiety of coming out to your close friends/roommates is the worst but then finding out that they are also not straight is sooo reassuring.
> 
> The next chapter will have more Yuuri and Phichit moments, and open communication about sexuality, some good shit.
> 
> If you liked (or hated) the chapter, leave a comment or send me a message on my [tumblr](http://www.victuuricorner.tumblr.com)! Thanks again for reading


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another week another party. Maybe Yuuri will actually enjoy this one? (Maybe not).

The next morning, Yuuri woke up to his alarm clock glowing the blurry numbers 10:17 and slowly rolled over to grab his phone and glasses. Victor had texted him around nine saying he was awake if Yuuri felt like getting breakfast anytime soon. Yuuri glanced over to Phichit’s bed and saw that his roommate was still passed out, seemingly having not moved all night. Yuuri would have been concerned for his health had he not been able to see the rise and fall in his chest from across the room. He didn’t want to wake him up, but he could feel his stomach rumbling already. He replied to Victor and asked if he wanted to get Starbucks before dragging himself out of bed and trudging towards his closet to find clothes to throw on. After brushing his teeth he wrote Phichit a note explaining where he was and telling him to text him if he wanted anything to eat or drink.

When Yuuri finally walked down the hall to meet Victor, he could feel his heartbeat pick up. He really had been planning on coming out to his new friends at some point, but having done it accidentally while he was  _ drunk _ made him annoyed with himself. He knew there was no way to take it back at this point, and besides, Victor had taken it well. He had taken it better than well in fact; he’d come out to Yuuri as well. The thought made a small bit of hope swell in his chest, but he pushed it down before it could overwhelm him. There was no use in hoping for something that would never be.

Victor opened his door with a smile a moment after Yuuri knocked, and Yuuri automatically smiled back at him. They exchanged hellos and started walking down the hall. Yuuri caught a glimpse of Georgi in the room, and he was surprised that he hadn’t slept over at his girlfriend’s or begged to have her stay over. He didn’t want to bring up the perpetually sore topic with Victor though, so he kept it to himself.

“Did Phichit make it through the night okay?” Victor asked, a smirk on his face but concern in his eyes.

“Oh, yeah, he was totally fine! He looked so hilarious when he fell asleep, but he didn’t get sick or anything he seems to have slept through the night.” Yuuri pulled his phone out and showed the picture he’d taken of Phichit passed out sprawled across his bed, and Victor laughed wholeheartedly.

“Please send me that. I need to use it as blackmail next time he tries to post an unflattering picture of me.” Yuuri laughed and sent it, watching as the notification popped up on Victor’s phone.

“You… Did you seriously spell my name wrong in your phone? Is this real life?”

“What do you mean? I spelled it wrong? This is how little Yuri spells it, I guess I just assumed—”

“I can’t believe this. My best friend doesn’t even know how to spell my name.”

“Your best friend, huh? Well, best friend, tell me how to actually spell your name.”

“Two U’s,” Yuuri murmured, suddenly embarrassed by the declaration. Victor didn’t seem to catch onto his sudden withdrawal, and if he did then he didn’t comment on it, much to Yuuri’s relief.

The fact that Victor wasn’t treating Yuuri any different made another wave of relief flow through him. He knew that his anxiety was unwarranted in the situation, but it didn’t seem like his anxiety cared about whether or not it was appropriate for the situation. They continued to joke over breakfast, and Yuuri sipped his green tea slowly, not wanting the morning to end too quickly. Half way through the meal, Yuuri’s phone buzzed with a text from Phichit, and he laughed as he read it.

 

Phichit: 

Yuuri I think I’m going to die

This is the end

You’ll have to find a new roommate

 

Yuuri:

I think you may be overreacting

Do you want anything for breakfast?

Also Victor says hi

 

Phichit:

Tell Victor he’s invited to my funeral

I don’t think I’ll ever eat again, but if I were to eat again I’d want a croissant

 

Yuuri:

Lmao okay I’ll grab one on the way back. Coffee?

 

Phichit:

Yes pls, black like my soul

 

Yuuri:

… You hate black coffee

 

Phichit:

I’m trying to fit in with the college kid aestethic, let me live

*aesthetic

 

Yuuri:

Okay, yeah, whatever u say dude

I’ll be back in like 20 or so

 

Phichit:

Okay, I’ll probably live that long

 

Yuuri laughed at Phichit’s overdramatic reaction to his hangover, showing Victor every time he responded. They finished up their food and eventually meandered their way back to the dorm. They got back to their dorm, and Yuuri nervously played with the edge of the paper wrapped around Phichit’s croissant.

“I just wanted to say, um, thanks again for not being weird last night. Sorry I told you like that, I wanted to tell you in a more… coherent way.” Yuuri couldn’t bring himself to look up from the breakfast he was holding in his hands, but he saw that Victor was still walking so he continued down their hall.

“Yuuri, you don’t have to apologize. Believe me, I understand it’s not always the easiest thing to say. And I think you should talk to Phichit about it; I know he won’t care.”

“How do you know. Have you told him?” Victor hesitated at that, briefly tripping over his own feet as his thoughts went somewhere else.

“Well, I guess I’m being a hypocrite. No, I haven’t told him either. We could do it together if you want? Would that be weird? Maybe we should throw a party.” Yuuri laughed at Victor’s outlandish idea, finally glancing up at his friend to find that his blue eyes were already on him.

“I don’t think we need a party. I’ll tell him soon. I’m just waiting for the right moment, you know?”

“The right moment never seems to come, Yuuri.” They had reached Victor’s room, and he unlocked his door before turning to Yuuri, pulling him into a hug. Yuuri was surprised at first, but he hugged Victor back once the shock was gone, and they stood together for an extended moment before Yuuri pulled away, careful not to spill Phichit’s coffee. They said goodbye and then Yuuri was off down the hall to his own room, hoping that Phichit was feeling okay and not actually as awful as his texts had made him sound.

“Yuuri! My savior! The bringer of all that is good in this world,” Phichit said once Yuuri had unlocked the door.

“Phichit, it’s just coffee. I put in a sugar packet and some cream, we both know you don’t like bitter things.”

“You know me so well, my friend. God, why did I drink so much last night? I should definitely never do  _ that _ again.”

“Okay, whatever you say.”

“How could you question my resolve? You wound me, Yuuri Katsuki.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just eat your breakfast. How was the rest of the party anyways?”

“I think I did shots. It got a little blurry at the end there, but I walked back to campus with a couple of other guys so that was fine. Where did you and Victor disappear to anyways?”

“Oh, uh, the party made me kind of really anxious so we left.” Phichit’s face showed regret, the first real negative emotion Yuuri had seen cross it all morning.

“Oh god, I’m sorry, Yuuri, I didn’t even realize… I promise it won’t happen next time, if you even want to go out again, which I mean,  _ I’m  _ never going to drink  _ ever _ again, so it’s totally up to you.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know, and I’m fine now, so no hard feelings or anything.”

“Okay, good. Wouldn’t want you to kill me in my sleep or anything.” Yuuri couldn’t help but break out in a laugh at Phichit’s teasing, and Phichit smiled in return. The conversation died off as Yuuri pulled out his laptop to attempt to do homework. Sometime in the afternoon there was a knock on the door, and Phichit, who was napping on and off, stumbled up to answer it.

“Georgi has Anya over  _ again _ . I can’t even believe him. Apparently they got in a fight last night, and now they need time to make up or whatever. God, I’m so sick of him. If I ever start dating someone, just kill me if I get that annoying,” Victor said, striding into the room and dramatically flopping down onto Yuuri’s bed.

“Noted,” Yuuri muttered, only half paying attention. He had his first paper due at the end of the week, and he’d completely forgotten about it until he checked his syllabus that morning. Therefore, his anxiety had spiked and told him that he could never finish a four page paper in four days, and he was furiously outlining and attempting to start it. Victor seemed to sense that Yuuri was working on something, and he turned his attention to Phichit. The pair chatted about something at the party the night before, and Yuuri immediately felt nervousness pool in his stomach. What if Phichit asked about the girl he was talking to? What if Yuuri had to come out on the spot like he had with Victor the night before? He shot a look to Victor, who quickly changed the topic.

“Did you guys know I’ve been growing out my hair since I was thirteen? My baby pictures look so different.” He automatically pulled out his phone, obviously going to show them.

“Wait really? Have you gotten it cut at all” Phichit asked, crossing the room to see Victor’s phone.

“I get it trimmed about once a year, but no more than an inch. Look how short it was when I was little though; I can’t even imagine cutting it this like this again.” Victor held out his phone, and Phichit’s jaw dropped. He quickly handed Yuuri the phone, and Yuuri was also taken aback. He looked back and forth between the old picture of Victor and the one standing in front of him, much to the amusement of Victor and Phichit. Puberty had done wonders for Victor.

“What… So five years?”

“Five years of growing it out has taught me that long hair is really annoying, but I’m really good at braiding it now. I always braid little Yuri’s hair, and he pretends to hate it, but I know he doesn’t because he still lets me do it almost every time I see him. I mentioned possibly cutting it once, and he didn’t talk to me for… I wanna say three days. Then he came over and said that I was stupid if I ever cut it.” Victor was laughing as he recalled the story about his ridiculous neighbor, and Yuuri felt his anxiety quieting down more by the moment.

The rest of the day passed without anything of importance happening. That night, they piled all of Yuuri and Phichit’s blankets and pillows on the ground and had a movie marathon. By the time the last movie ended, they were all half asleep, curled up on the ground with a few pieces of popcorn from a food fight earlier in the night around them. Victor mumbled something about just sleeping on the ground, but Yuuri made them all get up, claiming that they would all wake up extremely sore if they tried to sleep on the ground.

“Yuuri hates me. It’s understandable; I get it. I never would’ve thought… My own best friend… turned against me,” Victor mumbled, still half asleep.

“That’s okay, Victor. I don’t hate you. I’ll be your best friend,” Phichit said back in his own half asleep mumble. Yuuri stood and took a picture of the two of them, putting it onto his snapchat and laughing at how ridiculous the entire argument was.

“If I let you sleep on the ground, you guys would both hate me in the morning. Now come on, it’s time to get up. Up!” Yuuri tugged on his blankets, and Victor and Phichit finally stood up, stretching. Victor’s shirt rode up, revealing a small patch of his stomach, and Yuuri fought hard not to stare, instead focusing on a small tear in the comforter in his hand. Victor left after helping them get everything back onto their beds, and Yuuri and Phichit fell asleep soon after.

Sunday was a blur of homework and rain, and they only left the dorm for food the entire day. Monday morning, Phichit was far too chipper, as per usual, and was rambling before Yuuri was fully awake about all the things the school was putting together that week.

“There’s a club fair today at three! We should definitely go! There are so many things I want to join.”

“Yeah, sure, that sounds good, I don’t have class then.” 

By the time that three rolled around, Phichit had also roped Victor into coming with them. They wandered up and down the aisles formed from little folding tables, each holding different clubs on campus. Yuuri spotted the table for pride across from something Phichit had stopped at and he looked at Victor before glancing back to it. Victor follow his gaze and nodded walking towards it with him. Yuuri’s hands shook a little bit as he added his name to the e-mail list, and Victor gave him a reassuring smile before adding his name beneath Yuuri’s and grabbing a pamphlet as well. Phichit hadn’t even noticed their absence, still talking to the same club, and they waited for him to be done. Yuuri put his name down at a few other clubs, at the insistence of Phichit, and they all wandered back towards their dorm.

“So, what did you sign up for? Anything good?” Phichit asked, looking at the pamphlets on Yuuri’s desk.

“Uh, yeah, just a couple of things…” Yuuri trailed off when he saw Pitch its eyes land on the small card he’d gotten from Pride. Phichit reached out to grab it, and Yuuri looked at Victor, panic written clearly on his face.

“Oh, I totally missed the pride table! When did you go there?” Yuuri still felt panic seizing his throat, but Victor came to his rescue by answering.

“You were at the Quidditch table, I think. The GI meeting is tonight, do you want to go?”

“Maybe. I’m straight, I think, but if you’re going I might join you.”

“Yeah, I’m pan, so I’m going to go.” Yuuri felt his heart beating faster as Victor confessed

“I’m gay, so I’m going to go too,” Yuuri mumbled, almost too quietly for them to hear. Victor gave him a small smile, and Phichit’s expression morphed to one of confusion.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Yuuri smiled a little at Phichit’s response, though the panic was still running through his veins, making his heart beat too fast and his thoughts race around on an unfollowable path.

“Sorry I didn’t, um, tell you earlier,” Yuuri added, wincing at his own awkwardness.

“It’s fine, don’t worry at all! I know it can be hard.” Yuuri finally looked up, making eye contact with Phichit who was giving him a reassuring smile. Yuuri smiled back and looked at Victor, who was smiling at the entire exchange.

“Wait, did Victor already know?”

“Yeah, I, uh, kinda told him on Friday when I was drunk. That’s why I freaked out at the party. I’m not used to people flirting with me, so it took me a while to realize that was happening, and then I freaked out about it, and yeah.”

“Oh god, I’m sorry, Yuuri.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know.”

The rest of the afternoon found the three of them lounging in 256 and attempting to do their homework, but mostly just getting distracted and sending each other dog pictures and bad memes. Yuuri’s anxiety steadily climbed between the time they went to get dinner and arriving at the pride meeting, but he tried his best to hide it and put on a show of feeling fine the way he desperately wanted to. Once they got to the meeting, Yuuri found he didn’t recognize anyone there aside from Phichit and Victor, and he felt vaguely relieved by the fact. He liked the sense of anonymity that he had among the large crowd at the meeting.

“Hello everyone! Welcome to the GI for campus pride, it’s so great to see so many new faces here! So we’re just going to have an icebreaker meeting this week, and we’re going to do a few different games.” They went on to explain how to play the games, and Yuuri felt his anxiety start to slip away bit by bit until he was actually having fun. At the end of the meeting he was standing with Victor and Phichit when a few other people he’d talked to briefly during the meeting came over to them.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you guys around before, are you freshman?” a boy said. He had blonde hair and hazel eyes, and even though he’d addressed them all, Yuuri could feel that his eyes were resting firmly on him.

“Oh, uh, yeah, we’re all freshman,” Yuuri said, feeling his anxiety rising back up again.

“I’m Julian, and this is Bianca. It’s nice to meet you guys! I’m a sophomore.”

“I’m Yuuri, and this is Phichit and Victor.” Yuuri gestured to his friends as he said their names, and they smiled. Phichit and Victor started talking to Bianca, and Julian turned to Yuuri with a smile. They chatted about classes and other surface level topics for a few minutes before Julian pulled out his phone and handed it to Yuuri so he could type in his name to add on facebook. Victor and Phichit caught Yuuri’s attention and they all walked away.

“So, how long did it take you this time to realize that someone was hitting on you?” Phichit asked, a coy smile on his face.

“That—what? He was just being nice he wasn’t  _ hitting  _ on me.” Victor and Phichit exchanged bemused looks before bursting into laughter.

“Oh, Yuuri, dear, naive Yuuri. He was  _ completely  _ flirting with you. He literally added you on social media. I can’t believe you didn’t even—wow. That’s amazing,” Victor laughed, clutching Phichit for support. Yuuri was trying to get together some sort of a response, but instead he was just spluttering and blushing, much to the further entertainment of the pair.

Throughout the week, Yuuri and Julian talked more and more until Julian invited Yuuri somewhere so he could see him again.

 

Julian:

Have you been to any good parties yet??

 

Yuuri:

No, not rly. Just a frat party last weekend with very watery beer

Idk if going out is for me tbh

 

Julian:

Come on it’s college you’ve gotta go to more than one party!!

My friend’s band is playing at this show this weekend you should come thru

 

Yuuri:

Can I bring some friends?

 

Julian:

Yeah ofc! The more the merrier

 

Yuuri:

Alright I’ll think about it

 

Julian:

So what I’m hearing is you’re going to come

I really want to see you again you’ve gotta come!!

 

Yuuri:

Only if I don’t die writing this paper

I’m thinking about it!!

 

Julian:

Come on, you’ll make it. It’s only 4 pages!

 

Yuuri:

Only???

 

Yuuri immediately told Victor and Phichit about it, and they coerced Yuuri into going, claiming they would tag along to act as “the best wingmen you’ll ever not need.”

They arrived at the party already a little bit tipsy. Yuuri had done four shots in the time the others had only done two, but he’d disguised it to make it seem like he’d only had as much as them. He was hoping that if he had enough, his anxiety would magically disappear.

Yuuri was proud of keeping up his show of vague sobriety walking into the party. It was in a house a little ways off the main street, and from the front it seemed like any other house on the block until they traversed the long driveway and heard the thumping bass of the band in the basement through the walls. They scrounged for money in their pockets for the suggested donation before entering into a kitchen that had a beer pong table set up along some cupboards that looked like they had seen better days. The lights in the kitchen were half on, fluorescent bulbs flickering every now and then. There was an open door showing the staircase leading down to what Yuuri assumed was the basement based off of the pulsing blue and purple lights reflected on the white panelled walls. Yuuri pulled out his phone to message Julian, but before he got the chance he was suddenly engulfed in a hug.

“Yuuri! You made it! My friend’s band is about to start, we should head down there now!” Julian exclaimed, his breath reeking of beer. Yuuri laughed and nodded and let himself get dragged by his left hand down into the basement. The band was playing a cover of some song Yuuri vaguely recognized as a big hit from over the summer. Julian pulled him towards a large group of dancing people, offering him a shot of fireball from his flask. Yuuri accepted with a smile, grimacing as the bitter sweetness of the alcohol hit his tongue and the odd cinnamon aftertaste. Julian laughed at the way Yuuri’s face wrinkled, and Yuuri went willingly closer to the taller boy’s body as they danced.

Julian was nice, and seemed funny, and he really was attractive. Yuuri couldn’t tell what he saw in him, a scrawny boy who was still pudgy in the wrong places, with a plain looking face and bland personality. But with five shots in one hour running through his veins, Yuuri told himself that it didn’t matter tonight. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen, and Yuuri should finally let himself just  _ live _ for once and not overthink every single move he makes to the point where he spends too much time standing still because the thought of doing something wrong paralyses him. Julian offered him another shot, then another, and Yuuri accepted. The way the lights shone made everything feel like something out of a movie, and the way that the drums rattled in Yuuri’s chest as the band covered a Beatles song made him feel alive.

When Julian led Yuuri towards a darker corner of the basement, Yuuri danced over, his head thrown back in a laugh at whatever Julian had said a moment earlier. Before Yuuri really knew what was happening, his back was pressed against the wall and Julian’s lips were pressed against his own.

Yuuri hadn’t kissed anyone before. He was always too afraid in the high school to put himself in a situation where he might be outed that he decided to just wait until the moment arose. Now here was the moment, smacking him across the face. Julian’s lips were rough, both because they were dry and because they were pushing against Yuuri’s own with an intensity Yuuri hadn’t been expecting. After a minute, Yuuri drew back for air, leaning his forehead against Julian’s.

“Do you want to get out of here? My roommate is gone for the night,” Julian murmured into Yuuri’s ear and trailing his lips down to kiss the edge of Yuuri’s jaw.

Yuuri knew if he said yes there would be expectations. Expectations Yuuri was very much not ready to meet. Sure, kissing Julian was fun, but sex? Yuuri was nowhere near ready for anything more than making out. His eyes flew open, and he scanned the crowd to see if he could spot Phichit or Victor. Phichit appeared to be having the time of his life, dancing with everyone in the crowd. Victor was with him, but he didn’t seem to be as into it as Phichit was. As if he felt Yuuri’s gaze on him, Victor turned his head and caught Yuuri’s eyes. He took in the expression on Yuuri’s face, and concern immediately colored his features.

“So, what do you say?” Julian murmured against Yuuri’s lips. Yuuri knew it was supposed to be seductive, but all he could feel was the panic and sweat gathering on his palms and the backs of his knees.

“I’m sorry, I, I need to go. Sorry,” Yuuri mumbled, pushing Julian away lightly. Julian looked surprised, but didn’t make a move to follow him as Yuuri walked across the dance floor and up the stairs. Yuuri left the house quickly without another look back.

What was he doing? What kind of position was he trying to put himself in? He needed to walk to clear his head, and he only had to walk for one minute alone before he was back on campus with the flood of bright white fluorescent street lights. Once he took off his shoes and sat on his bed, he called his sister, the only person he could trust enough to tell everything to. She answered after thirty seconds worth of rings and second thoughts.

“... Hello?” She said blearily, obviously having just woken up.

“Oh, Mari, you’re sleeping, I’m sorry I—”

“Yuuri? It’s so late, is everything okay?”

“Yeah everything is fine I just, I’m sorry I woke you up you can go back to sleep, it’s not important.”

“Listen, kid, I’m already awake at… 1 am on a Friday night. You might as well tell me why you called.” Mari’s voice was familiar, and though she had been woken up by her annoying little brother she didn’t even sound annoyed. Yuuri choked out a sob; he couldn’t help it.

“Mari, I don’t know what I’m doing. I went to a party tonight, and there was this boy, and I just… Why am I so  _ stupid _ all the time?”

“What happened? Did he hurt you? I’ll come there right now and kick his ass if I need to.” Yuuri let out a laugh at that, though there were still tears in his eyes.

“I just… You know how I was in high school. I never kissed anyone. And tonight, I kissed this guy and I don’t even… I don’t want to sound stupid and naive, but I always thought my first kiss would at least be good, but it was just in a basement at a stupid party with terrible music and a guy who immediately asked if I wanted to go back to his place.”

“Oh,  _ Yuuri, _ ” Mari was quiet for a moment as she collected her thoughts; she never spoke without thinking, “I’m sorry your night went like that. First kisses are completely over-hyped, it’s the later ones that really matter. I’m sure you’ll have many better ones in your future, and one day you’ll laugh about this.” Yuuri smiled at the words, though Mari obviously couldn’t see him.

“Thanks, Mari. You’re the best, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah, I love you, too. Now, are you alone? And are you back in your dorm?”

“Yeah, I got back alright and all that—” A knock cut off Yuuri’s words, and he immediately panicked.

“Yuuri?”

“There’s, uh, someone at the door. One second.” He walked cautiously towards the door and looked through the peephole, relieved to see it was Victor standing uncertainly on the other side, looking down at his fingernails, and not campus police. He swung open the door and smiled, beckoning in his friend, “It’s just Victor.”

“Okay, good. You shouldn’t be alone. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah. Goodnight, Mari. Thanks again for listening. Love you.”

“Love you too, squirt.” With that she hung up, and Yuuri was left, red eyed and still sniffling, alone with Victor.

“Are you okay? One second you were giving me that panicked look, and then you were gone. Phichit is doing his thing as always, but I lost you and I was worried you weren’t okay.”

“I really just… I… I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Yuuri shifted from one foot to the other, ignoring the slight dizziness that came with the action.

“Okay, I understand,” he paused, obviously trying to figure out what to say next before adding, “Do you want to get pizza?” Yuuri felt himself automatically smile at the question.

“Only if we go the place off Main Street. That one is  _ so _ much better than the one everyone else goes to.” Yuuri sat down to put on his shoes, the smile staying stuck firmly on his face.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I think all pizza tastes good. I’m not a pizza-judger.”

“Even the dining hall pizza?”

“I mean, it’s not  _ that _ bad, is it?”

“Oh my god,  _ Victor, _ you have to be joking.” From Victor’s sheepish expression, it was obvious he was not. “Come on, I’m going to educate you and your taste buds.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recall the days when a 4 page paper was something to dread... How I miss those days
> 
> Also I threw a little angst in there! I had an experience that heavily influenced the party scene lmao so I hope that it feels realistic
> 
> I also only read this over like 1.5 times to edit it so honestly if there are mistakes (like last chapter when I accidentally left in a joke line oops) tell me in the comments so I can fix it lol
> 
> I hope you liked it!! Come talk to me abt the fic/life in general on my yoi blog [here](http://www.victuuricorner.tumblr.com)!
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and your comments make my day/week/month/year!!!
> 
> Also, I've decided that I'm going to aim to update this fic on Wednedsays, so the next chapter will be up then.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor finally gets educated about pizza and someone makes a surprise visit!

“Victor, you have to admit that this is better than dining hall pizza. Come  _ on _ you have taste buds, don’t you?”

“I’m insulted, Yuuri, of course I have taste buds. They’re just desensitized from the vodka,” Yuuri giggled, “I can tell this is better than the dining hall. Consider me educated.” They smiled at each other before lapsing into silence and finishing their pizza. The silence was comfortable, not the awkward oppressive kind that Yuuri often felt.

“I guess I got something good done tonight.” A flash of something went across Victor’s face.

“Do you want to talk about what happened yet?” Yuuri sighed, wiping his hands on a napkin.

“Can we head back? And we can talk while we walk?”

“Of course, whatever you want.” They threw out their plates and started walking back to campus. Yuuri shivered when they walked into the chilled air of the September night.

“That was my first kiss. I’ve never… I mean, I told you I never had a boyfriend. I just… Wasn’t expecting it. I was having fun until he asked if I wanted to go home with him.” Victor was quiet beside him, and Yuuri felt his heartbeat speeding up and his breath becoming shorter as his anxiety spiked.

“I’m sorry, Yuuri. That’s not exactly a good first kiss. I know everyone always wants it to be some big romantic experience.”

“What was yours like?” Yuuri was desperate for some sort of distraction, especially with the alcohol slowly wearing off.

“I was thirteen, I think. It was at this school dance that I went to with a girl who lived down the street from me. I had a crush on a boy in my science class, but I agreed to go with her because she seemed so excited about it. During a slow dance, I can’t even remember what song, she went up on her tiptoes and kissed me. I was so surprised that I almost tripped. Then we got yelled at by the dance monitors and our parents had to come pick us up. I remember that I wanted the ground to swallow me up when my mom started scolding me and telling me that I shouldn’t have kissed her in the middle of the dance floor. For three days I couldn’t even tell her that  _ she _ kissed  _ me. _ I was so embarrassed.” Victor laughed at the memory, and Yuuri found himself laughing along. Maybe one day Yuuri could laugh at this entire ridiculous experience the way Victor was laughing now.

“If my mom ever finds out about my first kiss, I think I’d have to die on the spot.” Victor laughed at the mental image of Hiroko finding out what had happened tonight.

“We’ll just have to keep it to ourselves then, right?”

“Right.”

They walked back in comfortable silence, walking side by side with their arms occasionally brushing. By the time they were back in Allan Hall, Yuuri could feel that he was still too awake to sleep.

“I’m not even tired yet. Do you want to hang in 256?”

“Sure, Georgi is probably still up anyways and I try to avoid him at all costs. Him and Anya are fighting, and it’s apparently the end of the world.”

“We’ll have to see if Phichit is back yet. I doubt it though, you know how he gets at parties.” Victor nodded and the pair went up to 256, enveloped once again in their comfortable blanket of silence. Yuuri kicked off his shoes after he walked into the dark room, and Victor followed suit as Yuuri flicked on the lights.

“Do you ever wonder where you’re going to be in, like, five years? If life is completely perfect?” Yuuri sat down on his bed and Victor laid down next to him, resting his head in Yuuri’s lap. Yuuri tried hard not to think about it.

“I mean… sometimes. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, so I think in a perfect world I would just have a job. Maybe a little house or an apartment with a roommate.”

“That sounds nice.”

“What about you?”

“Oh, I like to think of all the outlandish things I can probably never do. It’s nice to think about finishing my degree and packing up and just going far away for no particular reason.”

“That does sound wonderful. Where would you go?” Yuuri’s hands unconsciously drifted to Victor’s hair, and Yuuri started carding his fingers through the long locks. Yuuri told himself that it was the alcohol that had him feeling the need to touch Victor, but it was getting harder and harder to believe his own excuses anymore.

“Everywhere. Anywhere. Sometimes I think about going back to Russia; it’s so beautiful there. I have family there, but sometimes I dream about moving somewhere in the mediterranean and living on the water and working on a fishing boat. Although, I think my mom would kill me if I paid all this money for higher education and then became a fisherman.” Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh at the image of Victor who looked like the human embodiment of a Greek god working as a fisherman in a small town far away. Victor smiled in response to Yuuri’s laughter, looking perfectly content laying there in Yuuri’s lap.

“I think I’d go back to Japan. I lived there until I was five or six. My parents owned an inn, but business wasn’t so good so they decided to move to America. I think I’d go back and see if things are the way I remember from when I was a kid, even though I know it’s probably different.”

“I always wish that things were exactly the way I remembered things, don’t you?”

“Yes. It’d make it easier to trust my own memories, you know?”

“Yeah, I do.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, Yuuri’s hands still gently brushing through Victor’s hair. Then Phichit burst into the room, smiling and laughing at someone that he said goodbye to before closing the door.

“You guys! You always leave parties so early! Why are my best friends such party poopers?”

“Hello to you too, Phichit,” Victor laughed, sitting up.

“Dude, you always  _ leave _ the whole point of parties is you  _ stay _ , you know?”

“Alright, next time we’ll stay with you the whole time.” Yuuri couldn’t help but break into a smile at their interaction.

“Yuuri! You were having fun, why did you leave? Did you get it or something?” Phichit was laughing as he said this, struggling to take off his shoes, talk, and remain standing at the same time.

“Uh, no, I just wasn’t having fun, I guess.” There would be no explaining things to drunk Phichit, and Yuuri knew it would be a lot easier to just do it in the morning.

“Yuuri, you never have fun. Just have fun! It’s not like it’s hard!” Yuuri felt the words settle uncomfortably in his stomach, and he looked down at his hands. Phichit was drunk and oblivious to how his words were coming across, and Victor was too preoccupied trying to take care of the drunk boy to notice Yuuri’s reaction. Once Phichit convinced Victor he could brush his teeth on his own, he said goodnight and went back to his own room. Yuuri got ready for bed silently, his anxiety overtaking his mind and stopping him from thinking about anything else besides Phichit’s words. It really wasn’t that hard to have fun at these parties, especially when he was drunk, so why couldn’t he? What was wrong with him? Maybe he was too introverted, maybe he was just boring, but no matter what there had to be something wrong with him. Eventually trying to keep up with his swirling thoughts became too exhausting, and he fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Yuuri was woken up at eleven by his phone ringing. He clumsily reached for it, not completely awake but seeing Mari’s name on the screen. He answered quickly and muttered, “Hello?” He reached for his glasses and stumbled out of the room as quickly as he could, not wanting to wake up Phichit if the call wasn’t just a pocket dial.

“What’s the name of your hall again?”

“Um, Allan. Why?”

“I’m about five minutes away. I brought Vicchan.”

“Wait, what?”

“You had a bad night, and I miss you, you little dork. I moved around some shifts today so I can come up this morning. You should probably get dressed because I’m guessing I just woke you up.”

“Okay, I’ll change really quick!” Yuuri went back into his room, throwing on acceptable clothes and tying his shoes before he left the room. He noticed he had a recent text from Victor and replied on his way out of the building.

 

Victor:

Breakfast soon?

 

Yuuri:

Mari actually is about to show up

She decided to surprise me bc I was sad

She brought Vicchan

 

Victor:

OMG NO WAY

CAN I MEET HIM

 

Yuuri:

Yeah!!! She’ll be here in a few minutes

 

Victor:

omgomgomgomg

I’m going to combust

I’ve been so low on dog interaction lately

 

Yuuri smiled to himself at Victor’s enthusiasm and shoved his phone back into his pocket to wait for Mari. When he saw her car pull into the parking lot near his building, he couldn’t help the blinding smile that lit up his face. Mari had gone to a community college twenty minutes from their house, so he hadn’t ever had to go an extended period of time without seeing her, and he felt the absence more than he thought he would. She climbed out of the car, pulling out a very excited Vicchan, who immediately started excitedly barking upon spotting Yuuri, and Yuuri all but ran to where she was parked. As soon as he was close enough she opened her arms, and he practically dove into them, squeezing her tightly.

“Mari, I missed you so much.” He fought back the small tears of happiness that pricked at his eyes. She hugged back just as tight, and Vicchan jumped on their legs, barking wildly in excitement. Yuuri laughed when he pulled away, crouching down to pet Vicchan, who immediately tried to jump up onto Yuuri’s legs to lick his face. Yuuri couldn’t help the laughter falling from his lips as he scratched behind Vicchan’s ears, earning more happy yipping from the small dog.

“Oh, I missed you so much, too! Who’s the best boy?” Vicchan couldn’t contain his excitement, running back and forth between Mari and Yuuri and barking constantly. Yuuri laughed and after a minute he calmed down and buried himself in Yuuri’s arms. Yuuri smiled and stood up, cuddling the small dog close. Mari and Yuuri started walking back towards the dorm to the benches out front, and Mari handed Yuuri the leash before he set Vicchan down.

“Yuuri!” Victor’s voice rang from the front door of their dorm, and he walked towards them. Yuuri waved, clutching Vicchan’s leash in his other hand.

“Victor, this is Mari. Mari, Victor,” Yuuri said once Victor was by their side. Vicchan jumped up onto Victor’s leg, and before Yuuri could scold the small dog, Victor was crouched on the ground and cooing at him.

“He’s so cute, Yuuri! He reminds me of Makkachin, except Makka is bigger. Oh, but you’re so cute aren’t you, Vicchan?” Yuuri laughed at the baby voice Victor was using to take to the dog, but Vicchan seemed to already love Victor.

“It’s nice to meet you, Victor. Yuuri’s told us a bit about you.”

“All good, I hope?”

“Yeah, mostly,” Mari teased, causing a blush to creep onto Yuuri’s cheeks.

“Mari, stop being annoying.” Yuuri knew he sounded whiny, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The others laughed at his antics, and he found himself smiling along. Vicchan jumped at his legs, barking at the lack of attention he was currently receiving.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to read the text with the assumption that it was probably Phichit just waking up. However, he found it was a text from Julian, and he tried to keep his face neutral as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He really didn’t feel like dealing with it right now.

“So where is a good place to get breakfast around here?”

“There’s a place on main street where we can bring in Vicchan. Victor, do you want to come?” Victor was still crouched and petting Vicchan, and his head snapped up at the words.

“Oh, no thanks. You guys should have some good old Katsuki sibling bonding. I’ll see you later! I think I’ll check if Phichit is alive.” Yuuri laughed and waved, and Victor went on his way back to the dorm. Yuuri started leading Mari towards the bistro where they could get breakfast, and he secretly hoped it wouldn’t be too busy this early in the morning.

“So, baby brother, what happened last night?”

“Wow, cutting right to the chase there.”

“I didn’t drive all the way here to beat around the bush.”

“Yeah, I figured. I don’t know I just… A guy asked me to go to a party with him, and we were dancing, and then we were kissing, and I don’t know. It was just… a lot happening all at once. The shots beforehand did not help the situation at all.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that helped. Sorry about the bad night. At least you’ve got me and Vicchan here though, right?”

“Yeah. You guys are definitely helping.” Vicchan trotted happily ahead of them, bouncing with every step despite the fact he was getting older. Yuuri liked to think his dog would live forever, and moments like this made it easier. The topic of conversation shifted to talking about how Mari’s work was going, Yuuri’s crazy professors, and other mundane parts of their everyday lives that they were missing from being apart, and Yuuri smiled and laughed so much his cheeks were aching by the time they finished breakfast.

“Well, I have to get back because I had to trade my morning shift for a night one,” Mari said after they’d returned to campus. Tears welled in Yuuri’s eyes when he hugged his sister, and he tried to not think about how long it would be until he saw her again.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” Yuuri mumbled, holding onto her tightly.

“I’ll miss you too, bud. I’ll be up soon though; I made sure to take off for parent’s weekend, so I’ll be up here with mom and dad.” Yuuri finally pulled away and smiled.

“Okay, I think I’ll be able to make it that long, then.” He crouched down to pet Vicchan, who immediately started licking at his cheeks the way he had on long, stressful nights in high school. Any time that Yuuri cried, Vicchan was always by his side, refusing to leave until the little dog was convinced Yuuri felt better. He resisted when Mari tried to pull him away towards the car, and Yuuri was trying to look happier so the dog would be okay with leaving.

“Vicchan, come. It’s time to go!” Mari kept trying to pull on the leash, but Vicchan just wanted to stay at Yuuri’s side. Yuuri sighed and picked up the small dog.

“I’ll walk you guys to the car, maybe he’ll calm down a little bit.”

“Yeah, maybe. He misses you a lot; this trip was half for his benefit.”

“I wish they would let me keep him in the dorm.”

“If only if only, kid.” Yuuri put Vicchan down in the car, and the dog whined at no longer being as in his arms. Yuuri kissed his head and scratched behind his ears, sighing at the fact he had to leave his best friend again.

“Alright, I’ll see you later, then?” Mari nodded and gave Yuuri one last hug.

“Love you, little bro.”

“Love you too, Mari.” Mari finally got in the car and drove away, and Yuuri pulled his phone out of his pocket. There was a text from Phichit, but the text Julian had sent him earlier was still there, eating at him. He decided to just bite the bullet and read it. He sat down on a bench in the quad outside his dorm, basking in the midday heat, and opened the text message.

 

Julian:

Hey, how are you doing? You kind of freaked out last night

 

Yuuri:

Yeah sorry abt that

I’m okay now, I just kinda freaked out

 

Julian:

Do u want to like talk about it?

 

Yuuri:

I don’t think there’s a lot to talk about?

I’m sorry I lead you on, I didn’t mean to

I just dnt think I’m in a great place for anything right now

 

Julian:

No, I totally get you

I’m on the same page

 

Yuuri:

Alright, awesome

 

Julian:

So we’re all good?

 

Yuuri:

Yeah, all good!

 

Julian:

Okay, cool. See you Monday at Pride then!

 

Yuuri:

Yep, see you then!

 

Yuuri felt a lot better after exchanging the text messages, and he went back inside to his dorm, only to find Victor and Phichit having a dramatic fake-argument about what the best animal was.

“Okay, yeah, everyone loves dogs, but hamsters are so much better! They’re little and cute and you can hold so many at once!”

“You can hold a lot of dogs at once with strength and determination!”

Though he always missed his family and his home, these people and this place were working their way into his heart too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is kind of filler-y, I had a really busy week moving back home from college, and being home really messes with my head, so I'm just happy I could get this done! I also spent a lot of time working on a sort of mini sequel to my other story We'll Be Fireproof that I want to post sometime in the next week, so we'll see what happens.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Your comments and kudos make me so ridiculously happy!
> 
> Come talk to me about literally anything on my [tumblr](http://www.victuuricorner.tumblr.com)!


	5. Chapter 5

Yuuri got back to the room, and Phichit and Victor were sitting around on their phones, laughing over something Victor was holding up.

“Yuuri! You’re back! How was seeing your sister?”

“It was nice, and she brought up Vicchan too. Apparently he misses me as much as I miss him.” There was a smile on his face, but the wistfulness in his voice at the mention of his sister and dog made it obvious he was feeling the distance between them a lot. Yuuri kicked off his shoes and settled onto the bottom of his bed since Victor had already taken a spot by the top. Yuuri tried not to think about the night before and how close they had been, and he only succeeded once Phichit started talking again.

“Why did she come up, just because she wanted to see you or?” Yuuri shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, then kind 

“I, uh, I didn’t have a great time at the party last night, and I called her when I got back to the room, and she decided to surprise me to cheer me up.”

“Oh yeah, I did notice you left early.” Phichit didn’t ask what happened, but his eyes showed their usual burning curiosity to know everything happening around him.

“Julian wanted to go back to his place and I freaked out a little. Or a lot. Then I came back and Victor followed me and we got pizza.”

“Man, what a dick. At least you got pizza out of it?”

“Yeah, Yuuri educated me on the differences between pizza places last night.” Victor’s tone was teasing, and Yuuri felt a smile tug onto his face.

“Okay, Phichit, you know that the place off Main Street is the best in town? Especially in comparison to campus pizza.”

“Victor, buddy, please, don’t tell me that you actually thought dining hall pizza was good. Please.”

“Okay, I feel really attacked right now, I can’t believe you’re both against me right now. Maybe I should just go back to Georgi. I bet he wouldn’t do me like this.”

“I thought he only did Anya?” As soon as Yuuri said this, they all started laughing so hard they could barely breathe. The joke hadn’t been that funny, but they couldn’t stop listening, and every time that one of them looked at one another, it just began another round of laughter. Yuuri felt some of his insecurity from earlier drift away, and eventually they started talking about other things. 

“Come on, you’ve never seen  _ Scream _ , it’s classic!” Phichit stared at Victor with complete disbelief on his face.

“I’m not great with scary stuff.” They were flicking through movies on Phichit’s list on Netflix, and Phichit was now convinced they had to watch  _ Scream  _ and all of its sequels.

“This is a good intro scary movie. We’ll make you love horror movies, just you wait.”

“We? I’m not taking part in this, I’m staying out of it.”

“Oh come on, Yuuri! It’s fun! It’s almost Halloween!”

“Phichit, it’s not even October yet,” Yuuri laughed, basking in the feeling of fitting into this moment with his friends.

“It starts getting spooky in September, my dear roommate.”

“Alright, fine. Let’s watch it. As long as we make our pillow fort again I’m ready.” Phichit punched the air in victory, immediately beginning to pile all of his blankets and pillows on the ground. Yuuri couldn’t help but let out another short laugh before aiding his roommate in the construction of something they could all get comfortable on. Once they were situated with Victor sitting rigidly between Phichit and Yuuri, obviously trying to act like he wasn’t nervous for the movie, Yuuri fought down a smile at his friend. When Phichit was distracted with getting the movie pulled up, Yuuri knocked his shoulder against Victor’s, raising an eyebrow and silently questioning whether or not he could handle it. Victor gave a small nervous smile in response, and Yuuri took that as him being ready enough.

The first scene of the movie came with its usual jump scares and blood, and since it was a favorite of Mari’s Yuuri could almost recite every line. Victor, however, was not on the same level as Yuuri. He had wrapped a blanket around himself, curling up and hiding his face every time something even a little bit gory showed. Yuuri ran a comforting hand over Victor’s shoulder as a disemboweled body appeared on screen because though Victor’s distress was a little bit amusing, Yuuri also understood how Victor was feeling. 

Yuuri jokingly stole the blanket from Victor halfway through the movie, and after a brief struggle they ended up sharing it. Throughout the movie, Victor shifted closer to Yuuri, closer and closer until their sides were pressed together. The blanket radiated their warmth back onto them, and Yuuri tried to reason that the reason he was blushing so badly was because it was too hot to be using a blanket, but he knew he wasn’t going to move to cool off. He knew the lies he told himself were flimsy like wet cardboard, but he wasn’t going to pull on them because he knew they would rip too quickly.

During the final fight scene of the movie, Victor curled against Yuuri’s side, hiding his face in Yuuri’s shoulder and practically moving onto his lap. By this point, Yuuri couldn’t brush this off and pretend Victor was doing this accidentally; he started the movie directly between Phichit and Yuuri, and he had gravitated towards Yuuri the entire time. His mind raced, and he tried to stop it, knowing the faster it went the harder the inevitable trip and fall would hit him.

The movie finished, and Victor sagged in relief, stretching out across Phichit and Yuuri, his head in Yuuri’s lap again like the night before.

“If I don’t get any sleep tonight, I am entirely blaming you. I will call you and do the creepy voice in the middle of the night, I swear to god.” This sent Yuuri and Phichit into a round of laughter spurred on by Victor’s pouty expression.

“You look like you’re like  _ ten _ oh my god, Victor, stop  _ pouting _ .” Victor jutted out his bottom lip further, causing another round of laughter from all of them.

“It really wasn’t  _ that _ bad, was it?” Phichit asked, tilting his head to the side.

“I mean, I suppose it could’ve been worse. I’m just not a huge horror movie fan. Watching something for the sole purpose of being scared doesn’t make sense.”

“Sure, but it’s a great excuse to cuddle, right?” Victor barked out a laugh at Phichit’s question and nodded.

“Sorry I was hogging Yuuri; he’s the best cuddler.” Yuuri felt his face get hot, and he was sure he probably looked like he’d spent twelve hours straight in the sun without any sunscreen. Eventually Yuuri coaxed them into another topic of conversation, and they all sat around laughing and talking about random things until they could barely keep their eyes open. Once Victor left, Yuuri barely got all of his things back onto his bed before he fell asleep.

The oncoming week was spent with a lot of studying in preparation for Yuuri’s first exam, and a particularly awkward pride meeting where Yuuri focused on trying not to catch Julian’s eye.

On Thursday night after Yuuri’s test, Phichit went out to a meeting for another club that he was interested in joining and left Victor and Yuuri alone in the room. Yuuri was attempting to read an article for class, and Victor was lounging on the bed next to him, giving up all pretense of doing work and scrolling through instagram on his phone.

“Yuuri, look at Katy Perry’s dog. He’s so fluffy! And his name is Nugget, how cute is that?” Yuuri groaned at being interrupted by Victor again, but he still leaned in to see the post. He lost his balance when the hand he was leaning on slipped on a piece of paper though, and he pitched forward towards Victor. Instead of ending up with his face in Victor’s chest, Victor’s hand caught his shoulder, stopping him when their faces were level. Victor’s lips were so close, and Yuuri could just taste the minty mouthwash Victor used when he breathed out. Yuuri’s eyes flicked down towards Victor’s lips, and for a second the entire world froze. Victor was staring into his eyes, and his tongue poked out of his mouth to wet his lips. The action made Yuuri bite his lip, and it seemed to startle Victor out of their trance. He pushed Yuuri back up to a sitting position, and Yuuri couldn’t help the sense of disappointment rushing through him.

“Yeah, um, cute dog. Very, uh, fluffy,” Yuuri muttered in a vain attempt to salvage the conversation.

“Yeah. That reminds me, I’m, uh, supposed to skype my mom so Makkachin can hear my voice. She’s been missing me a lot; you know how it is.” Yuuri nodded, and Victor quickly gathered his few things and left the room without another word. Yuuri could feel his anxiety all gathering and congealing in his chest, turning icy in his veins. What was he doing? Why would he almost kiss Victor? There was no more denying it: he wanted Victor. He could lock up all his desire, but it was still going to be there to slip between the bars on the cage.

He curled his knees into his chest, trying to focus on his breathing when it became ragged and difficult. Tears pricked at his eyes, and he knew he was starting to have a panic attack. His chest was tight, and his mind was running so fast he couldn’t get enough air in his lungs to control it. Why would Victor want to kiss him? Why would  _ anyone _ want to kiss him? Sure, Julian wanted him, but he just wanted sex; he didn’t actually care about Yuuri. So why would Yuuri trick himself for even a  _ second _ to think that someone like Victor could want someone like him? It was ridiculous, and stupid, and pointless to even think about. That moment was the closest they would ever get to kissing, and Yuuri would have to deal with that. Hell, maybe he even scared Victor away. He bolted from the room pretty fast. He probably didn’t want to be friends with some creep that tried to kiss him for no reason with no warning. Phichit would probably side with Victor, and they would move out of the hall and be roommates in some other building and Yuuri would be left alone with a roommate who thinks he’s just some quiet weirdo.

Once his panic had finished running through him, Yuuri pushed all of his papers onto the ground and crawled under the covers, thoroughly tired out from his anxiety taking over. He was just about asleep when Phichit came back.

“Yuuri! I’m back! The meeting was—oh shit are you trying to nap? Sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s not a normal time to nap. I’m just… really tired, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s okay! I’ll shut up now.”

Yuuri rolled so he was facing the wall and attempted to lull himself back to sleep, dreaming of a day when he didn’t have to deal with his mind turning on him so often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is late and short! I've been working on a little sequel to We'll Be Fireproof and I also went camping for 4 days last week without my laptop, so I did what I could.
> 
> I hope you liked that!! Poor Yuuri is a ball of anxiety, but he's doing his best.
> 
> The ball is really about to start rolling, and another character we all know and love will be introduced in the next chapter!! Also, I promise it will be longer. This chapter is unusually short because time.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading, and come talk to me on my [tumblr](http://www.victuuricorner.tumblr.com)!! You guys make the time I spend on this story feel worth it :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris surprises everyone and comes to visit!

On Saturday morning, Victor’s best friend Christophe surprised everyone by coming down. He only had one class on Mondays, and his professor had cancelled for a conference so he decided to surprise his oldest friend and come down for a long weekend.

“So guys, this is Chris.” The smile on Victor’s face was easy and effortless, and it made Yuuri’s heart race no matter how hard he tried to calm it down.

“We’ve known each other since we were practically babies.” Christophe beamed and wrapped an arm around Victor’s shoulders.

“Yeah, we went to daycare together and our moms became friends. Or something like that. I always get the feeling they aren’t telling us something about it.”

“They probably got really drunk together or something the first time they hung out outside of having to watch us.”

“Maybe they stole a car?”

“Yeah, you know, grand theft auto really brings people together,” Phichit said, breaking into the pair’s conversation. Yuuri watched the entire interaction fighting his fingers to not clench into fists the way they often did when he was uncomfortable. He didn’t want to make a bad first impression on Victor’s best friend, but he couldn’t find a way to speak without seeming awkward.

“So, what are we doing tonight? Victor mentioned a band playing somewhere or something?” It was the first Yuuri had heard about them going out that night, but it would make sense since Chris was staying.

“Yeah, there’s a house show down on Pine Street. Yuuri, do you want to come?” Yuuri didn’t realize that he appeared as if he wasn’t paying attention since he had retreated so far into his mind while over-thinking.

“Oh yeah, definitely. That sounds fun.”

“Don’t sound too enthusiastic there, Yuuri.” Yuuri let a smile break across his face at Phichit’s teasing.

“What do you want to do today, then? It’s a little early for pregame,” Chris teased, sipping at his coffee.

“What about that museum in Clarence? It isn’t too far away, and my art history professor said it’s free if you bring a student ID.”

“So what I’m hearing is Victor wants to use us to get extra credit for his art history class?” Phichit laughed, “It sounds fun though!”

“Yeah, someone in my bio class was talking about it and said it was a good museum,” Yuuri added.

“Alright, so day sorted! Want to leave right after breakfast?” Before anyone could agree, Phichit interjected.

“I’m still in pajamas, and I’m going to take a  _ lot _ of artsy selfies if we’re at a museum, so I’ve got to get ready.”

_______

Phichit had insisted on not only making sure he looked good, but also Yuuri, which had taken as long as Yuuri expected. When Phichit was looking through Yuuri’s things looking for his brush, he discovered the eyeliner Yuuri had gotten for dance competitions in high school, and he had excitedly gestured to it until Yuuri agreed to put it on Phichit.

“Just a thin line, you know? I’ve heard that it really makes your eyes pop! And we can match!” Yuuri relented and recalled his knowledge of doing other people’s makeup from backstage at recitals. He was never very close with the other dancers, but they were still a community and he had learned how to do makeup after so much time spent having to do his face up for the lights. He also learned how to do others’ makeup for touchups, so small things like eyeliner he could do on someone else with ease, especially if they didn’t want a wing like Phichit.

Once they were finally ready, an hour had passed. Yuuri had on eyeliner with a slight wing, which he hid behind his glasses, even though Phichit begged him to wear contacts. They were still arguing on the way to the car.

“They aren’t comfortable! I want to be able to see the art.”

“But Yuuri you could  _ be _ the art.”

“I think his ass is already art,” Chris added, his ever present smirk plastered on his face.

“Chris! What did I  _ just _ finish telling you!”

“Stop hitting on Yuuri, yeah, okay, got it, right. But Yuuri doesn’t mind it, right Yuuri?”

“Wait you’re hitting on me? I thought you were teasing.”

“No, no  _ mon cherie _ , I wouldn’t tease you like that. Unless that’s something you’re into.” Chris winked and Victor elbowed him so hard Chris let out a wheeze. Phichit burst into laughter immediately and the others joined in. They moved on to other topics when they piled into Chris’ car, and Victor’s playlist of old pop hits had them all laughing and singing along.

When they got to the museum, they all piled out of the car, and Yuuri couldn’t help but notice how close to Victor Chris stood. He tried not to let it get to him.

“This stuff is so cool. How do they even get the details to look so clean? I don’t understand how people can make art like that.”

“Come on, Victor, you know you’re not that bad of an artist yourself.”

“Victor is an artist?” Yuuri couldn’t help the question before it was out of his lips. A brilliant smile broke across Chris’ face, and he wrapped an arm around his best friend.

“Yeah! He even won an award for it and everything in high school, right Vitya?”

“I mean, it’s nothing in comparison to this stuff, but people seemed to like it.” Victor grinned and Yuuri’s heart clenched. He knew, logically, that he couldn’t possibly know as much about Victor as Chris did, but every little detail revealed from Chris felt like another piece of Victor that he was hiding away. Yuuri felt like he barely knew Victor.

Yuuri found himself caught up in a painting of a young girl sitting in a field, crawling towards a house in the distance. There was something hopeful about it, but it still made his heart clench. The extreme detail of the painting drew Yuuri in, and he couldn’t help but stop and stare, trying to take in everything painting made him feel.

“Yuuri, are you wearing eyeliner?” He hadn’t even realized that Chris and Phichit had continued until Victor next to him snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Oh, um, yeah. Phichit is too, wherever he went off to.”

“It looks good.” Yuuri blushed, finally breaking his gaze away from the painting in front of him to look at Victor.

“Thanks.” They silently made eye contact for a moment before Yuuri turned to look for where Phichit and Chris had run off to. It used to be so easy to talk to Victor, but now it felt like any words he might say were stuck in his throat. 

They made their way through the rest of the museum, posing for what felt like a thousand pictures for Phichit. He wanted this “friendship outing” to be properly documented. On the car ride back he tried desperately to convince Yuuri to post one of the pictures on his instagram.

“Yuuri, people want to know what you’re up to!”

“Why would anyone care about what I’m doing?” Victor and Chris burst out laughing at Yuuri’s reply, only further egged on by Phichit’s dramatic groan.

“That isn’t the point Yuuri! People want to know whatever you want to tell them.”

“But Phichit, you keep forgetting how boring I am. This is, like, the most interesting thing I’ve done in a month.”

“See, but the internet doesn’t know that. Therefore it’ll seem like this is just your life.”

“Phichit, no.”

“Phichit,  _ yes. _ ” Eventually Yuuri gave in and posted one of the pictures Phichit took. It was a group shot of the four of them, all smiling up at the camera with a Monet painting in the background. If Yuuri remembered right, then Phichit had made some sort of joke about “gettin that cash monet” that had lead all of them to laugh, so the smiles in the picture were genuine. He uploaded it without a caption, much to Phichit’s dismay, but he still tagged the location of the museum.

“So, dinner? What do you guys want to eat?” Victor asked once they got back to the campus.

“Well, I know what I want to e—” Chris was silenced by a glare thrown at him from Victor. Phichit and Yuuri burst out laughing, and Chris kept on his sly grin, throwing an arm around Victor’s shoulder on their way back to the dorms.

“We could save money and stay on campus.”

“Or we could actually enjoy our meal and go off campus?”

“Fair point.”

Eventually they decided to just get pizza, and Victor sent Yuuri a smile when they got to the pizza place they’d eaten at the night before. Yuuri smiled back, clinging to anything that could dissipate the awkwardness that had built up between them.

“Chris, can you please tell them that there’s only one pizza place in our town so I haven’t ever  _ had _ to decide which was better?” Victor whined, looking at Chris with pleading eyes.

“Are you kidding? There are like four in our town, and about twenty more in the city right next to us. Victor, how did you think there was only one?”

“I just thought that Mark’s was the only one!”

“I mean, Mark’s is the best one in town, but there are others that are better in the city. I’ve failed you as a best friend if you didn’t know that, oh man, this is the end, I’ll have to resign.”

“See, this is what college friends are for. Pizza education.”

“We went to get pizza  _ once _ when we were drunk, I wouldn’t exactly call that pizza education,” Yuuri cut in, leading to laughter from everyone except Victor.

“Yuuri! You’ll have to keep teaching me, I know nothing!”

“Yeah, Chris did he tell you that he thought the dining hall pizza was good?”

“Victor, no, please tell me this is a lie,” Victor looked sheepish and Chris gasped, “I’m ashamed. Yuuri, why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”

“Chris I literally met you today.” Phichit and Victor let out small laughs at completely deadpan tone of Yuuri’s voice, and the conversation shifted away from pizza and onto other things while they ate. Yuuri didn’t talk a lot, but he listened; he felt content to just sit and watch his friends. He kept catching Victor staring at him out of the corner of his eye, but he tried not to think too much about it. He really didn’t want to know why Victor would stare at him, so he pretended not to see.

After the got back to Allan Hall they split their separate ways to get ready to go out for the night. Phichit convinced Yuuri to redo the eyeliner they applied earlier, and eventually he coerced Yuuri into wearing his contacts as well. Once he was dressed in something Phichit considered acceptable to be seen at a party in, Phichit texted Victor to come over whenever they were ready.

Chris and Victor knocked on their door loudly and in quick succession until Yuuri yanked it open, revealing the two grinning friends on the other side.

“Okay, we should do something actually fun for pregame this time. I brought lemonade, why don’t we make mix drinks and play a drinking game for a while? Maybe kings?” Yuuri panicked and slammed the door shut the second they were in the room, much to the amusement of everyone else. Their RA had made it pretty clear he didn’t really care if anyone drank as long as they weren’t crazy drunk enough to hurt themselves, but Yuuri still wanted to be cautious.

“No… what about never have I ever?” Chris smiled devilishly. He obviously had played the game before.

“Oh god, I feel like I’m in highschool again,” Phichit groaned, but at the same time he was getting out the two mugs he owned. Yuuri copied his movements, and internally he thought about how he’d never played never have I ever, but he kept it to himself. They made their drinks and settled down on the rug between the beds.

“Alright, I’ll start with an easy one to get us going. Never have I ever attended Prix University,” Chris said. the other three rolled their eyes and took a drink. It started getting a little bit less PG, but for the most part Yuuri wasn’t too far behind.

“Never have I ever kissed a man,” Phichit said, and the other three took a drink.

“Oh really, Yuuri? So me hitting on you wasn’t completely insane, then?” Yuuri felt his cheeks burn.

“Uh, sure. Let’s go with that one.” Victor elbowed Chris, and Chris gave a noncommittal shrug, obviously not feeling guilty about his actions. The next round, once they’d all finished their second very strong drinks it started to go south.

“Never have I ever had sex with a man,” Phichit giggled, the vodka obviously getting to him already. He had poured a little over two shots into each of his drinks, so it made sense. Victor and Chris laughed before drinking. Chris’ sip was extremely large, and the rest of them laughed more at his over dramatic antics.

“Never have I ever had sex with a woman,” Chris countered. Victor groaned and took another sip along with Phichit.

“Why does this game always end up this way?” Victor mumbled. Chris gave another suggestive wink, and Victor rolled his eyes.

“So Yuuri, no drink?” If Yuuri thought he was blushing before, he was wrong.

“Uh, yeah.” This time, Victor forwent all subtly and pushed his older friend to the ground.

“Stop being a dick, Chris!”

“I’m just trying to get a feeling for your new friend!”

“It’s fine, Victor, don’t get mad at him. ‘S not his fault.”

“Although, if you wanted to fix your answer to one of those last two questions, I could definitely be of some assista—” Chris had only just sat up when Victor pushed him back down. Yuuri couldn’t help the laughter that tumbled out of his lips, and everyone else followed his lead. If they noticed him chugging the rest of his drink, they decided not to comment on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello its me.... The worst updater to ever exist...
> 
> I had crazy bad writers block for the past few weeks and I've been busy submitting my stories to places (ya girl wants to be a published writer really bad), but I hope I can try to get back to weekly updates!
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter, if you did you should leave a comment or come talk to me on my [tumblr](http://www.victuuricorner.tumblr.com)!!
> 
> Thank you all for reading, have a great day!!


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